1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sampler which intercepts a stream of fluent material and removes a portion thereof for subsequent analysis.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Samplers have long been employed to remove periodically a fraction of particulate, fluent material from a stream to facilitate monitoring the characteristics of that material. In manufacturing processes, or in other situations in which the material stream flows in a conduit, this is a relatively easy matter. However, in exploiting underground mineral deposits, the sampling procedure must take place in situ, and is affected by the environment, weather, and other variables which threaten the orderly recovery of sample specimens.
In open pit copper mining, sampling requires drilling a plurality of exploratory boreholes in exposed soil within the pit, obtaining soil specimens from these boreholes, and analyzing the specimens to determine a preferred approach to the economical exploitation of copper ore. The conventional method of sampling is to sink a hand held tube into a mound of borehole cuttings that has been discharged onto the surrounding ground, and thus obtain a core which is assumed to be representative of geological strata into which the borehole has been drilled.
While this method is simple and inexpensive, it is notoriously unreliable in that a cuttings mound disposed on surrounding ground is frequently not representative of the strata from whence it originated. This is due to uneven deposition of cuttings on the ground immediately following discharge from the borehole. Uneven deposition arises from uneven ground, which may include rocks and boulders, shifting wind patterns in the area of discharge from the borehole, and similar conditions beyond the control of the drill operator. Critical assumptions as to the characteristics of the strata are thus frequently founded on poor data.
The following patents are cited to illustrate generally samplers which intercept a stream of fluent material.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,001,129, issued to O. H. Fairchild on Aug. 22, 1911; 1,642,337, issued to O. H. Gray et al. on Sep. 13, 1927, 1,679,064, issued to S. E. Stephenson on Jul. 31, 1928, and 3,735,641, issued to Werner R. Bink et al. on May 29, 1973, all disclose diversion apparatus, such as a chute, for intercepting a stream of fluent material.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,521,545, issued to W. D. Kistler on Dec. 30, 1924, 1,721,126, issued to J. M. Lilligren on Jul. 16, 1929, and 4,918,999, issued to Hugo Wenshau et al. on Apr. 24, 1990, include sample collection means operating in conjunction with diversion apparatus.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,218,920, issued to Clarence D. John on Aug. 26, 1980, discloses a carrying receptacle which shuttles between a stream of fluent material and a measuring device.
While the aforementioned inventions and patents disclose samplers which are effective given their respective specific applications, there remains a need for a soil sampler which is operable in an uncontrolled environment, which samples an unconfined stream of fluent material, and which does not expose delicate machine elements, such as gears, worm drives, and the like to dust and dirt. Thus, none of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.